Costs Product.Indd
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BC BC LEGAL B R I N G I N G C L A R I T Y BC LEGAL DISEASE COSTS MARCH 2016 BC LEGAL COSTS REPUDIATION RATE A SNAPSHOT UP TO 94% PRE LITIGATION 60-70% IN LITIGATION CLAIMANT BUDGET REDUCTIONS DATA COLLECTING 30-40% AND PROFILING PART 36 OFFERS COSTS APP ONCE AND ONCE ONLY! AVERAGE SAVING 44% PER BILL OF COSTS If you have any questions about the BC Legal Cost Team and Services please contact Gary Brankin on DD: 0113 323 0462 or [email protected]. 6 OPPORTUNITIES TO OUR ETHOS LOWER CLIENT’S INDEMNITY SPEND x Repudiation rates in Occupational Disease 1. Increase your repudiation rate. claims are typically higher than for other types of personal injury claims. Ours are 2. Cost Budgets- Reduce Claimants’ cost between 60-70% in litigation and up to 94% entitlement at the first opportunity. pre-litigation. 3. Create risk to agree damages and costs x If high repudiation rates can be maintained together. and Claimant solicitors’ costs limited, there is 4. Reduce the amount paid in costs. no business model for these claims. 5. Reduce unnecessary leakage into litigation. x High repudiation rates mean Claimant 6. Pay appropriate claims at the appropriate solicitors have to ‘over recover’ on those settlements at the earliest stage. claims in which they do receive payment. x Our BCL Costs Product aims to robustly attack the costs claimed by Claimant solicitors and Repudiation rate reduce the sums payable with limited risk to the insurer. x Our pre-litigation repudiation rate across varying disease types for one major client is x Under QOCS, costs cannot be recovered from the Claimant if the claim is won in based on significant volumes and litigation. However costs can be recovered 94% from a Claimant where Part 36 offers are not mature 3 year data. beaten. x Our litigated repudiation rate varies between x We aim to get our Part 36 offer right, and help your own claims teams get their offers 60-70% depending on the profile right, ensure payment to the Claimant’s of the individual clients. solicitor early to limit the exposure to interest and encourage the Judiciary to fully scrutinise Claimant’s certified bills of costs. Create risk to agree damages and x Never has there been so much pressure on costs together the Judiciary to limit Claimant costs. We aim to take advantage of this beneficial climate. x Where our disease team cannot win the case they have sufficient specialism to create risk x Our costs product is disease focused but is that we can control damages and costs and also designed to specifically tackle costs in have the litigation risk reflected in the overall volume NIHL claims. settlement. x Costs proceedings will be handled by an experienced occupational disease Cost Budgets- Reduce Claimants’ solicitor/costs draftsman who is able to demonstrate to the Court how straightforward costs entitlement at first opportunity issues such as apportionment and limitation can be-often to a Judge who may never x BC Legal sees this as a major opportunity to have undertaken costs assessment in an reduce client spend. Occupational Disease claim before. x This is an opportunity we get on every file and we have developed our cost team to allow us to target Claimants’ budgets and increase reductions at the initial Costs Hearing. x Our costs team work closely with our disease handlers and advocates to ensure all costs points are made in detailed submissions and market leading reductions are achieved. Page 3 x BC Legal has been approved by the Bar x We use data and market intelligence to take Standards Council to offer pupillages and we technical points on miscertification of Bill, are developing a team of disease and cost challenge ATE premiums and assess the best specific advocates to target Cost Budgets. offer to make an individual firm. x Once the Budget is Court approved, the x These technical points will be taken with the Claimant is limited to incurring those sums at security of cost protective Part 36 offers in each phase of the litigation. place. x Cost Budget reductions allow us not only to better reserve for Claimant costs, but also to New Procedure make an earlier Part 36 offer on costs when damages are concluded. Bill of Costs served x If we settle at Witness Evidence Stage we know the approved amounts up to that phase, we apply appropriate hourly rates Short POD’s filed together and likely discounts on time incurred prior to with an open offer Cost Budgeting and we can formulate our offer. Replies to Points of Dispute (if any) x Currently our average budget reduction is served between 1.5 hour paper Assessment by Distrct 30-40%. Judge. No Advocates x Our savings on Provisional Assessment in percentage terms will fall, as there is less of Either side can request an oral hear- the Bill to attack on conclusion of the claim. ing but must achieve a 20% swing in However our average spend on Claimant costs overall will lower. x No longer can you rely on an Advocate at a hearing to rescue poor Points of Dispute. PART 8 x You need to get an early Part 36 offer right. COSTS LITIGATION Two reasons why an early Part 36 offer is the right strategy? Interest Our approach x Interest on costs accrues at 8% per annum. x BC Legal see costs law as a true specialism Sum Interest at 8% over a 12 month and have recruited Association of Costs Recovered period when no interim paid Lawyers, experienced Legal Executives with a £15,000 £1,200 costs specialism and work closely with external Costs Counsel to develop our £20,000 £1,600 offering in this area. £25,000 £2,000 x We do not believe in “drip feeding” offers or £30,000 £2,400 interim payments. £35,000 £2,800 x Our aim is to make an early Part 36 offer £40,000 £3,200 which offers costs protection so we can take a position of control in costs proceedings. £45,000 £3,600 x We aim to make an early Part 36 offer, £50,000 £4,000 tender that sum to the Claimants’ Solicitors and if not accepted robustly defend to x With NIHL repudiation rates at 70-80%, such Provisional Assessment/ Oral Hearing or easy money for Claimants allows them to Detailed Assessment. continue to take NIHL work. Page 4 x Early payment allows them to recover the BC Legal Costs App-In right sum, not the right sum, plus some additional free cash that they have not Development earned. x We are developing the BC Legal Costs App x Costs Lawyer fees accessed Online via our Knowledge Centre to skill your Claims Team to pitch your Part 36 x On pre-QOCS cases Costs Lawyers can offers correctly. recover hourly rates plus 62.5/100% success fee. x Without a strong Part 36 offer there is no risk on the Claimant to allow us to control these costs. x Without a strong Part 36 offer, Costs Lawyers are free to work at £294 p/h and each 3.5 hours of work adds £1,000 to the insurer’s Bill. Why do we get our Part 36 offers right? x Consistent with our intention to be the best in the market place with lowest market cost, we only want to work with genuine costs experts. x Select the appropriate Grade Fee earner x Each Part 8 case we take we will make a Part and Court Banding from our drop down 36 offer in line with Margaret McDonald’s options, linked to SCCO Guidelines for advice. This advice is provided at low fixed Summary Assessment. cost and our Points of Dispute will correspond x Complete the data fields for the time to her calculations. claimed by the Claimants’ Solicitors. x Reduce the number of letters and disbursements to a level you feel appropriate. x Estimate the likely % saving on document time. x Use our Apportionment Tool App to calculate your contribution to Costs, if not already agreed. x Our App will then calculate an appropriate offer, taking into account VAT and Disbursements and generate a Part 36 Top Ranked by Chambers & Partners 2013: precedent letter, which we have agreed with Counsel, designed to give maximum costs protection. You can adjust the % reduction “Margaret McDonald is the Head of the Costs & as you see fit. Civil Team at Kenworthy’s Chambers and has a x We will work with your Claims Team to use the busy practice in both Costs and Personal data captured via our online tool on % Injury. Able to draw on her well regarded saving, to allow you to make informed personal injury practice, she proves “a really decisions about the % reduction that can be feisty opponent” when it comes to costs work, made and refine Part 36 offers being made and is particularly noted for her prowess in to certain firms and fee earners. fact-heavy cases.” x If we can help you to get your Claims Team making Part 36 offers which offer costs protection, then the claim will come to us with cost protection and allow us to really apply pressure in proceedings. Page 5 Data collection x In addition we will collate data from all files we receive across a wide variety of data fields. x This data will be anonymised and accessible to all clients to assist Claims Team making appropriate Part 8 offers. Data on specific Claimant firms x We work in identifying the key players in the volume NIHL market and targeting their costs.